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ABS 2021 Census · Updated 21 May 2026
Cottles Bridge is a well-established middle-ring suburb of Melbourne, Australia, with a population of approximately 609, making it a boutique locality. Located approximately 32 km from the Melbourne CBD, Cottles Bridge is a middle ring area in Victoria. The median household income is $112,840 per year.
Strong household incomes in Cottles Bridge underpin solid property demand. While further from the city, improving transport links could boost future demand.
Official Australia Post postcode for Cottles Bridge. A postcode may cover multiple suburbs.
Australia Post Postcode Finder →Usual resident population at the most recent census.
Weekly median rent for occupied homes. Live rental data integration coming soon.
Annual median household income (before tax) across all households.
Straight-line distance from the suburb centroid to the nearest capital city CBD. Actual driving distance will be longer.
Estimated 1 school within or near this suburb.
Find schools near Cottles Bridge on My School →Estimated 1 park and green spaces near this suburb.
Monthly median mortgage repayment for households currently paying off a mortgage.
Proportion of separate houses versus units, townhouses, and other home types. Useful for investors assessing rental demand mix.
Cottles Bridge is a smaller community of 609 — about 8% of the Victoria suburb median (7,416) — so investors should factor in the narrower buyer pool and longer average time-on-market. Median household income of $112,840/year runs 19% above the Victoria suburb median of $95,160, indicating strong purchasing power and the type of demographic profile that tends to sustain premium property prices through market cycles. Weekly rent of $260 covers just 45% of the median $2,524/month mortgage repayment, leaving a $1,397/month gap — investors should only pursue this suburb with a clear capital-growth thesis and sufficient external income to fund the shortfall. At 32 km from Melbourne, Cottles Bridge is an outer-metro location where buyers are typically trading commute time for floor space and a lower entry price.
How Cottles Bridge stacks up against the median of all Victoria suburbs in our dataset. Positive values mean Cottles Bridge sits above the state median; negative means below.
| Metric | Cottles Bridge | VIC median | Δ vs state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 609 | 7,416 | -92% |
| Median household income | $112,840/yr | $95,160/yr | +19% |
| Median rent (weekly) | $260 | $380 | -32% |
| Median mortgage (monthly) | $2,524 | $1,950 | +29% |
| Distance to CBD | 32 km | 32 km | 0% |
| Separate houses | 91% | 78% | +13pp |
Pre-inspection briefing for Cottles Bridge — every item is derived from public datasets, with full citations in our data sources page.
Limited buy-and-hold upside: a small population of 609 means liquidity is thin and capital growth tends to lag the wider Victoria market over full cycles.
Weak cash flow: $260/week rent covers only 45% of the $2,524/month median mortgage — a $1,397/month gap that must be funded from other income. This suburb is a capital-growth play, not a yield play.
With 91% houses in a 609-person market, renovation margins depend on individual street and aspect rather than any suburb-wide story — do comparable-sales analysis before committing capital.
Run the numbers on a Cottles Bridge property
Scenario comparison, cash flow analysis, tax modelling, and PDF export — all in one place.
Create free account →Capital-growth expectations for Cottles Bridge are modest for 2026 — incomes 19% above the VIC median of $95,160 and a population of 609 suggest gains will lag headline metro markets. Rental coverage runs at ~45% of the typical mortgage ($1,127/month rent vs $2,524/month repayment), meaning investors will rely on capital growth rather than yield. The EquitySight investment score of 62/100 places Cottles Bridge in the upper-middle tier of Australian suburbs we profile, and overall investor sentiment is balanced heading into the second half of 2026.
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Cottles Bridge scores 62/100 on our EquitySight investment framework — a good rating. That score is driven by a population of 609, median household income of $112,840/year and median weekly rent of $260. Whether it fits your portfolio depends on whether you are targeting cash flow, capital growth, or a value-add renovation — all three are scored with suburb-specific numbers elsewhere on this page.
The main demand drivers in Cottles Bridge are an above-state-median household income of $112,840/year, a dwelling mix that is 91% separate houses, roughly 1 schools and 1 parks within the catchment. Together these shape both owner-occupier and tenant demand and are the factors we weight most heavily in the suburb's investment score.
Cottles Bridge has a usual resident population of approximately 609, compared with a Victoria suburb median of 7,416 — placing it in the lower half of the state's suburbs by size. Population is the clearest proxy for market depth: more residents mean more transactions and typically a shorter average days-on-market on resale.
Cottles Bridge sits 32 km straight-line from the Melbourne CBD. This is an outer-metro location; local employment and infrastructure announcements tend to move prices more than CBD connectivity alone.
The most recent census recorded a median weekly rent of $260 in Cottles Bridge, equating to approximately $13,520/year in gross rental income (state median $380/week). Market rents have typically drifted above the recorded figure — verify against current listings on realestate.com.au and Domain before making an offer.
The median monthly mortgage repayment in Cottles Bridge is $2,524, or approximately $30,288/year (vs $1,950/month state median). Stress-test your own borrowing at rates 1–2 percentage points above today's to make sure you can still service the loan through an RBA tightening cycle.
A median weekly rent of $260 works out to $1,127/month, covering 45% of the median mortgage repayment of $2,524/month. That leaves a $1,397/month shortfall (around $16,764/year before tax benefits), so a typical owner-occupier-priced property here is negatively geared. Actual cash flow depends on your deposit, loan terms, ownership costs and marginal tax rate — run the full numbers in our rental yield calculator.
The main risks are a thin buyer pool (609 residents), interest-rate sensitivity on the $2,524 median mortgage, the broader Victoria market cycle. Each of these is covered in the Risk Factors section above with suburb-specific numbers rather than generic warnings.
Every number on this page comes from the ABS 2021 Census of Population and Housing, Australia Post postcode reference data, and OpenStreetMap amenity tiles. The investment score, strategy verdicts, and comparison table are computed deterministically from those inputs — no opinion, no estimation. See our full methodology and the data sources and licences for the formulas we use.